Dissolution of Joint Property Ownership in Spain

**Patricia** · 06-17-2011, 01:34 PM

Dear Harry,

Your wife should be paying her half of the expenses of the house, regardless of her residence status in Spain, as she a co-owner; mainly if you are both married according to the British Law, that is separate estate. If you finally decided to sell the property to a third party, she would have the right to keep half of the profit if there was any after the tax payments and should there be no mortgage. You would be in a position to retain the unpaid amounts and expenses provided you had documented proof of it and that you had started to leave evidence at the Notary office of those non-payments. If she is willing to buy your share through a pruchase process this will sort out the situation.

Please feel free to request more information through our website´s contact form and we will be able to advice you further.

Yours faithfully,

**petra16** · 07-06-2011, 05:46 PM

Hi, I am co-owner of an apartment in Spain with my ex-partner. My ex-partner has changed the locks so I cannot gain access at all. Can he do this? We are not resident in spain. We are not married. My name is on the deeds and the mortgage. I have obtained a copy of the deeds from my bank to prove ownership and intend to instruct a locksmith to change the locks. I will of course give my ex-partner a key when this has been done. Am I within my rights to do this? Also, since we have split up, I have not been able to contribute to the mortgage. Does this make any difference. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks

Raymond · 07-10-2011, 01:04 AM

I have fifty percent ownership of a finca. I want to sell by court auction as I am estranged from my partner and she refuses to come to an agreement. If I take this action do I need to pay fees upfront and how long will selling the property by auction will take?

**Patricia** · 07-14-2011, 11:08 AM

Hello Raymond,

I understand that you wish to dissolve the jointly owned property and that your ex-partner is not collaborating, so unfortunately your only option is to initiate a court action to agree on the property dissolution and sell the property in public auction of the whole asset.

Yes, you will have to make payment of the court fees in advance though if the judge rules completely in your favour, it will be in all probability that your expartner is obliged to pay these costs as it was her non collaboration and refusal to dissolve the ownership in an amiccable way what led to the court case. If she fails to make payment of these costs, you will have the right to claim the amount from her half obtained after the auction.

It is very difficut to ascertain the time the process can take until the auction. Each Court works at different levels of efficiency; also, their workload can also vary form one court to another. Once the judge decides to dissolve the joint ownership, the following steps of the case will depend on her collaboration to sell the property in agreement with you. If she fails to collaborate in this case, you will then be forced to sell in judicial auction, which will obviously result in additional expenses and time.

According to our experience, these cases can take between 6 and 8 months before the sentencing, and if the process continues until the judicial auction, you could well add another 6 months.

Regards,

**Patricia** · 07-14-2011, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by petra16

Hi, I am co-owner of an apartment in Spain with my ex-partner. My ex-partner has changed the locks so I cannot gain access at all. Can he do this? We are not resident in spain. We are not married. My name is on the deeds and the mortgage. I have obtained a copy of the deeds from my bank to prove ownership and intend to instruct a locksmith to change the locks. I will of course give my ex-partner a key when this has been done. Am I within my rights to do this? Also, since we have split up, I have not been able to contribute to the mortgage. Does this make any difference. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks

Hello Petra16,

The best thing to do is to ask him in writing ( fax or email) that he gives you a copy of the new keys. If he fails to hand them over after a while, and once you confirm that he currently lives in the house, you can take the copies of whatever is in writing asking him to hand the keys and a copy of the title deeds indicating ownership of the property and visit the property with the police so they can write a report that you are unable to enter your property as the co-owner has changed the lock. Then you will finally obtain the copy of the keys or at least a report in your favor if your ex-partner starts to be difficult. If he does not live in the property in a permanent basis, you will have to wait until he is actually in the property to do what I have just explained above.

We do not advice that you change th lock without prior consent as you would be committing the same mistake as him, that is, deny access to the property to the other co-owner. The non-payment of the mortgage fees does not justify the change of locks. Please note that your ex-partner can claim at any moment these unpaid bills, provided he has already been paying your part of the mortgage during this time.

Regards,

Classickarlos · 07-15-2011, 02:37 PM

Hi,
I am co owner of a property in Spain and have been separated from my partner (co owner) for over four years, she has been very difficult during this time. When we separated I gave her the house in the UK (paid for in cash by me) and she agreed that the Spanish property (also paid for in cash by me) would be mine. After signing the UK house to her she sold it and then became difficult and refused to sort out the property in Spain, she has recently started sending letters saying she wants it to be sold (she has spent all the money from the sale of the UK property!).
Since separating I have paid all the bills, water, electricity, community etc.. and had no money from her at all.
We are both non resident in Spain and we were not married.
Is my ex still liable for half of these bills? can I claim this from her?
I still want the property in Spain to be transferred to my sole ownership.
I understand from reading previous post that I would be liable for paying all the cost incurred in the transfer and am willing to do this, however I do not want to pay my ex any money but rather assume the amount she owes me (if this is the case) as being payment for her share. Would this be possible?

Jean · 07-20-2011, 12:12 PM

Dear Sir/Madam, I have residencia and live in Spain. I am in the process of divorcing my husband who has a Spanish NIE but does not hold Spanish residencia and lives in the UK. I have signed over my half of our UK house to him and he has signed over his half of our Spanish house to me. (agreed divorce settlement).The houses are of the same value. I am in the process of putting the escrtura into the registry office. I have signed the d j p o and know about the notary, 1%, registration and abogado fees. Do i have to pay the plus valia and cambio nombre padron de recaudacion or any other fees as money has not changed hands only property? For example capital gains tax. Thank you.

Raymond · 08-16-2011, 03:46 PM

I own a Joint property and because i cannot come to any sensible agreement with the other owner I am warming to the idea of a sell by court auction.

What I would like to know is what upfront fees would I be looking at? I am on a fixed income and reqally do need to know what cash I need to find to begin the process.

sarah · 08-31-2011, 06:20 PM

Myself and my ex husband have a mortgage on a property in spain, neither of us want to buy the other out and the property has little if any equity. I have been sending monthly money to spain to pay the mortgage and he has been giving me his half each month however recently he has bounced cheques, been threatening to claim bankruptcy and been paying his half to me later than it is due. Is there any way that I can legally organise to be responsible for my half of the mortgage as it worries me that I will be held responsible if he fails to pay his half. And if this is possible how do i go about it. By the way the property has been up for sale for approx 3 yrs but has had very little interest.
many thanks
Sarah

Colin · 09-01-2011, 07:04 PM

My partner claims I have paid noting towards our property and is seeing a solicitor to have my name removed from the deeds.

Can she do this? Also can she through the courts reduce my share by claiming I have made no contribution to the purchases price.

I should add we have been living in the property for five years and only now she is making this claim.